1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer which prints an image on roll paper and cuts the roll paper after printing, and a print setting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with recent development of image input devices including a digital camera, digital video camera, and cell phone, a variety of image processing apparatuses having an image display means for sensed image data, and a printout means have been commercialized. An example of the image processing apparatuses is a photo printer.
Most photo printers used to print out image data such as a photograph shot by an image input device adopt printing methods such as the inkjet method and thermal transfer method.
According to the inkjet method, small ink droplets are applied by an impact, heating, or the like. Small ink droplets land on paper to obtain a desired resolution and tonality by an error diffusion method or the like. Typical methods for applying ink are a piezoelectric method and thermal inkjet method. The piezoelectric method pushes out ink using a piezoelectric element which deforms upon application. The thermal inkjet method applies ink by pressurizing it by bubbles generated by a heating element.
The thermal transfer printer uses thermal paper (paper having a dye receiving layer on the surface) as print paper. The thermal transfer printer selectively drives a plurality of thermal heads arrayed in the main scanning direction, conveys paper in the sub-scanning direction, and prints a dot line on the paper.
A sublimation thermal transfer printer brings a ribbon of ink, which sublimates from solid to gas, into contact with paper. This printer can express a smooth image at many tone levels by controlling the amount of heat applied to the head and the application count to change the density of one pixel. Thus, the sublimation thermal transfer method is suited to print out a photograph.
The thermal transfer printer generally uses an ink ribbon having a structure shown in FIG. 2. Yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) sublimation dye layers 201, 202, and 203 for forming an image are sequentially formed on the base of an ink ribbon. An overcoat layer (heat-fusion resin clear layer) 204 for protecting an image forming layer is finally formed. Markers 205 for detecting the start position of an ink ribbon are interposed between the ink ribbon layers of the respective colors and between the ink ribbon layer and the overcoat layer (double markers are arranged as the Y marker). Note that a spot color ink ribbon dedicated to monochrome image printing or the like has a different structure.
To form one image, paper sequentially undergoes thermal transfer processing using a set of the three, Y, M, and C dye layers and the overcoat (OC) layer serving as a protective layer. On an ink ribbon contained in an ink ribbon cartridge, the Y, M, and C layers and OC layer are repetitively arranged by the number of printable sheets. In general, the ribbon made up of the Y, M, and C layers and OC layer is set to have a length capable of printing at the longitudinal size of print paper.
Print paper sheets of various sizes and materials are used depending on printer apparatuses. A thermal transfer printer mainly uses roll paper for business use. Another popular printer apparatus using roll paper is one for creating a label tape. Paper used in a printer apparatus of this type includes a general print tape, and a tape obtained by superposing release paper and a print tape whose lower surface is formed from an adhesive sheet. After the end of printing on a print tape, the print tape is cut into a set length (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-088385).
However, a sublimation printer which prints using an ink ribbon coated with a sublimation ink automatically determines the cutting position of roll paper in accordance with the size of an ink ribbon attached to the printer, a paper size corresponding to the ink ribbon, or the paper size setting. This printer does not provide a means for allowing the user to freely set the cutting position and cutting method of roll paper when printing image data on the roll paper.